Bruins Force Game Seven Against Montreal

BOULDER, Colorado -- The Bruins forced a game seven, and I was there at the Garden to see it.

The Boston Bruins are 0-20 in their history in series in which they have trailed 3-1. They have also never won a series in which they trailed 2-0. But forget about history.

Ever since they built the TD Banknorth Garden, originally known as the Fleet Center, I have always thought it was a sterile, quiet building. But Saturday night was one of the loudest, most raucous hockey games I have ever been to. The atmosphere was incredible, driven by an absolutely thrilling game on the ice.

In the preview I wrote to this series, I said that Boston would have to play its defensive system perfectly to pin down the Habs' speedy forwards. Instead, the Bruins have shown that they can skate all night with the Canadiens, and speedy forwards like Phil Kessel and Marco Sturm have been critical in maintaining Boston's incredible tempo. Carey Price has also looked shaky in the past two games, while Tim Thomas has been his usual consistent self.

If the Bruins hope to complete their stunning upset, they will have to keep up what they've started the last two games. They need to get offensive contributions from all four lines, and they need to keep skating hard in all three zones and not get caught out of position while trying to play too physically (that especially applies Shawn Thornton, Andrew Alberts, and Zdeno Chara, who have all made costly gaffes while trying to line up big hits in this series).

This game will not be won in the neutral zone and it will not be won with defensive systems. It will be won with forechecking and backchecking, because this is going to be a fast, north-south kind of game.

Here we go, Bruins, here we go!

Photo: Tim Thomas, who played the end of game six with his chinstrap in his mouth after his mask broke, could have the game of his career tonight (credit: Andrew Gustafson).